The present invention relates generally to an electronic game machine, and more particularly to a game machine adapted to conduct automated tournaments.
Local entertainment facilities sometimes set up a tournament to be played on one or more game machines located in their facilities. The tournament may have a fixed prize pool, or may have a prize pool which is a function of the number of players in the tournament. After each player completes game play, an attendant records the player's score, or the player enters his or her name and score on a board located in the facility. At the completion of the tournament, the tournament winners are identified and winners collect their prizes. Tournaments which are conducted in this manner suffer from many disadvantages. For example, the entire process of recording names, tracking scores, identifying winners, and calculating the prize pool (when the prize pool is a function of the number of players) is performed manually and is thus subject to error. If attendants are not familiar with all tournament participants, a mistake could be made when handing out the prizes. In a manually run tournament, the winner may have to be present at the conclusion of the tournament to avoid the necessity of maintaining records and making prize payouts at a later date. A manually run tournament typically must have a short time period to avoid taxing the personnel resources of the facility. In view of these problems, and others associated with manually run tournaments, entertainment facilities are very limited in the frequency, variety and extent of tournaments that they can conduct for their patrons.
Video games that allow high scorers to enter their initials into a machine for public display during an Attract Mode or during game play are well-known. However, such games do not conduct prize-awarding tournaments. The display of high scorers merely provides a psychological reward for top scoring players because their initials remain on the display screen for others to see.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tournament system and methods which would allow entertainment facilities to conduct tournaments on a more frequent basis and for varying durations of time, to conduct a variety of different types of tournaments at the same time, to conduct tournaments with a minimal amount of attendant or operator support, to conduct a tournament in a completely paperless manner, to track prize pools and prize payouts in a convenient and secure manner, and to allow tournaments to be conducted without the necessity of all of the players being present at the end of the tournament. The present invention fulfills these needs.